Player Discussion: Jets Centers Scoring

[voyageur]

Total points by centres on each team:

1. Tampa 94
2. Toronto 70
3. Colorado 69
4. Edmonton 68
5. Calgary 65
6. Pittsburgh 62
7. Vancouver 62
8. Philadelphia 60
8. Dallas 60
10. San Jose 59
11. Florida 58
12. Washington 58
13. St Louis 55
13. Boston 55
15. Arizona 54
15. Vegas 54
15. Detroit 54
15. NY Islanders 54
19. NY Rangers 53
19. Buffalo 53
21. Nashville 51
22. Minnesota 49
23. Anaheim 48
23. NJ Devils 48
23. Ottawa 48
26. Chicago 47
27. Columbus 45
28. Montreal 41
29. Carolina 37
30. Winnipeg 36
31. LA Kings 24


Not good

That's one take. But that's a meaningless stat. If you stack your centres on your 1st PP, you are going to get points. We have the top PP, one centre on it. And our 2nd PP is garbage, yet we are still #1.

We are also the second best defensive team in the NHL. If centres are important for points, they are important for defense too.

I noticed a narrative last year to run Little out of town, especially when Stastny took off.

I'm not going to crap on Little. He is a gamer, rarely gets scored on, especially on the PK.

I think Roslovic would be an improvement at 2C scoring wise, but if Laine plays dumb with the puck, it's good to have someone back him up.

I think we have 4 posts right now on our centres.

Yet centre is still a position of strength for us, strangely.

 

[Hunter368]

That's one take. But that's a meaningless stat. If you stack your centres on your 1st PP, you are going to get points. We have the top PP, one centre on it. And our 2nd PP is garbage, yet we are still #1.

We are also the second best defensive team in the NHL. If centres are important for points, they are important for defense too.

I noticed a narrative last year to run Little out of town, especially when Stastny took off.

I'm not going to crap on Little. He is a gamer, rarely gets scored on, especially on the PK.

I think Roslovic would be an improvement at 2C scoring wise, but if Laine plays dumb with the puck, it's good to have someone back him up.

I think we have 4 posts right now on our centres.

Yet centre is still a position of strength for us, strangely.

Another poster posted an even more accurate 5vs5 stats.....we were still near the bottom. Certainly wouldn’t call any stat like that meaningless.....it’s critical information to any GM/Coach. Now I would agree that it’s offset by the fact our wingers are at or near the top in scoring so it’s lessens the negative impact of lack of scoring at C. As long as our wingers score near the top of the nhl and our C’s don’t hurt us defensively then it works out ok.......which I think was your point. I wouldn’t call our C position a position of strength or weakness B.C. of the reasons stated.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Total points by centres on each team:

1. Tampa 94
2. Toronto 70
3. Colorado 69
4. Edmonton 68
5. Calgary 65
6. Pittsburgh 62
7. Vancouver 62
8. Philadelphia 60
8. Dallas 60
10. San Jose 59
11. Florida 58
12. Washington 58
13. St Louis 55
13. Boston 55
15. Arizona 54
15. Vegas 54
15. Detroit 54
15. NY Islanders 54
19. NY Rangers 53
19. Buffalo 53
21. Nashville 51
22. Minnesota 49
23. Anaheim 48
23. NJ Devils 48
23. Ottawa 48
26. Chicago 47
27. Columbus 45
28. Montreal 41
29. Carolina 37
30. Winnipeg 36
31. LA Kings 24


Not good

How do Jets rank in 5v5 scoring by team?

Little is playing much better this year than last - but it isn't showing on the scoreboard. I keep waiting for it to come.

Looking at the whole team - they are just not getting enough shots on net. Period. It isn't just centres. Its the whole team.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

The only issue is there aren't any young 2C's available.

That depends on what you are willing to pay. It also depends on what you mean when you ask for a young 2C. For some of us it it seems to mean a fully developed 1C, based on some of the proposals I see on HF.

I'm sure one could be made available for the right bait. That doesn't make it a good idea though. The Jets are not playing well enough. It is not just C's.

 

[jepjepjoo]

How do Jets rank in 5v5 scoring by team?

Little is playing much better this year than last - but it isn't showing on the scoreboard. I keep waiting for it to come.

Looking at the whole team - they are just not getting enough shots on net. Period. It isn't just centres. Its the whole team.

29th in the league, only LA and Arizona have scored less 5on5.

 

[voyageur]

Another poster posted an even more accurate 5vs5 stats.....we were still near the bottom. Certainly wouldn’t call any stat like that meaningless.....it’s critical information to any GM/Coach. Now I would agree that it’s offset by the fact our wingers are at or near the top in scoring so it’s lessens the negative impact of lack of scoring at C. As long as our wingers score near the top of the nhl and our C’s don’t hurt us defensively then it works out ok.......which I think was your point. I wouldn’t call our C position a position of strength or weakness B.C. of the reasons stated.

I know with all the Eastern centres (Tavares, Matthews, Kadri), (Kuznetsov-Backstrom), (Stamkos-Point), (Crosby-Malkin), etc we don't look that talented.

But let's look at the West, 1-3

Nashville (Johanson, Turris, Bonino)

Winnipeg (Scheifele, Little, Lowry)

Minnesota (Staal, Koivu, Eriksson-Ek)

San Jose (Thornton, Couture, M. Karlsson)

Colorado (Mackinnon, Kerfoot, Soderberg)

Dallas (Benn, Spezza, Faksa)

Calgary (Monahan, Backlund, Ryan)

Vancouver (Horvat, Pettersson, Br. Sutter)

Chicago (Toews, Schmaltz, Kruger)

Arizona (Stepan, Galchenyuk, Strome?)

Edmonton (Mc David, Draisaitl/Spooner/Nuge/?)

St. Louis (O'Reilly, Schenn, Bozak)

Anaheim (Getzlaf, Kesler, Henrique?)

Vegas (W. Karlsson, Stastny, Eakin)

Kings (Kopitar, Carter, Iafallo?)

Of those teams, who has a clear advantage?

Maybe Vegas? Maybe Nashville.

We have a top centre, for scoring, in Scheifele, and a top centre for defense in Lowry. Guys like Backlund, Couture are better than Little, but their teams as a whole have more holes.
When I look at secondary production Laine I believe has 3 ES points, one was an EN goal. Little has 6, one was an goal 6-5, no goalie.

So the problem's not only on Little. And our centres.

Right now we have 4 solid lines, competing each night. We have 4 reliable defensemen. I think upgrades to that bottom 3 pairing gets more points on the board for our 2nd line, as they generally play together, that means Laine, and Little. Being a good defensive team takes a lot of work, which we are putting in. I think the talent offensively will eventually make the difference, scoring. There is a synchronism lacking between certain players. Once we get in sync, I expect us to get to middle of the pack numbers 5 on 5. The more effective minutes 5 on 5 we get out of our 4th line, the more I think the top line gets going, and then it reverberates. As I said before Roslovic's progression/development has a major impact on the direction we go. I think Scheif/Roslovic/Lowry at centre puts us in the elite skating range, but I understand why Little is playing where he is. Defense first.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

29th in the league, only LA and Arizona have scored less 5on5.

The point is that it is not just a problem with the C's - or with any one C.

As a team, the Jets have a low sh% and not very many shots on net. That's a deadly combination. Only the PP is keeping our heads above water. Maybe with a little help from goaltending.

 

[Whileee]

Right now the Jets are being carried substantially by their special teams. They have been quite good defensively at 5v5, but not so good offensively.

I like the switch of LW on the top two lines, though.

5v5

CSW and ELL... 6 goals for, 11 goals against (-5)

ESW and CLL... 7 goals for, 4 goals against (+4)

Sample size is still small, but the current lines are looking better than the previous ones.

 

[Hunter368]

I know with all the Eastern centres (Tavares, Matthews, Kadri), (Kuznetsov-Backstrom), (Stamkos-Point), (Crosby-Malkin), etc we don't look that talented.

But let's look at the West, 1-3

Nashville (Johanson, Turris, Bonino)

Winnipeg (Scheifele, Little, Lowry)

Minnesota (Staal, Koivu, Eriksson-Ek)

San Jose (Thornton, Couture, M. Karlsson)

Colorado (Mackinnon, Kerfoot, Soderberg)

Dallas (Benn, Spezza, Faksa)

Calgary (Monahan, Backlund, Ryan)

Vancouver (Horvat, Pettersson, Br. Sutter)

Chicago (Toews, Schmaltz, Kruger)

Arizona (Stepan, Galchenyuk, Strome?)

Edmonton (Mc David, Draisaitl/Spooner/Nuge/?)

St. Louis (O'Reilly, Schenn, Bozak)

Anaheim (Getzlaf, Kesler, Henrique?)

Vegas (W. Karlsson, Stastny, Eakin)

Kings (Kopitar, Carter, Iafallo?)

Of those teams, who has a clear advantage?

Maybe Vegas? Maybe Nashville.

We have a top centre, for scoring, in Scheifele, and a top centre for defense in Lowry. Guys like Backlund, Couture are better than Little, but their teams as a whole have more holes.
When I look at secondary production Laine I believe has 3 ES points, one was an EN goal. Little has 6, one was an goal 6-5, no goalie.

So the problem's not only on Little. And our centres.

Right now we have 4 solid lines, competing each night. We have 4 reliable defensemen. I think upgrades to that bottom 3 pairing gets more points on the board for our 2nd line, as they generally play together, that means Laine, and Little. Being a good defensive team takes a lot of work, which we are putting in. I think the talent offensively will eventually make the difference, scoring. There is a synchronism lacking between certain players. Once we get in sync, I expect us to get to middle of the pack numbers 5 on 5. The more effective minutes 5 on 5 we get out of our 4th line, the more I think the top line gets going, and then it reverberates. As I said before Roslovic's progression/development has a major impact on the direction we go. I think Scheif/Roslovic/Lowry at centre puts us in the elite skating range, but I understand why Little is playing where he is. Defense first.

In my post I didn’t mention Little. Overall I wouldn’t just consider the West.....bc we need to beat the best Eastern team to win the cup.....finishing less then the cup to me is nice but not the goal.....but I understand your point. We have Mark S a very good 1C, Little a two way 3C, Lowry a defensive 3C and 4C of various people. Our team GA and Centre offensive numbers reflect that....which isn’t horrible but also not overall ideal. We shall see if Roslovic ever develops into a NHL centre and if he does is he a 4C or 3C or 2C......fingers crossed he can become a 2C.

IMO the Jets two biggest areas to improve are 2C and future RHD. Let me explain, 2C for obvious reasons and Little isn’t getting any younger or faster....plus he’s never been a dynamic offensive player (hopefully Roslovic solves this, but I’m a bit concerned about the likelihood of this happening). Lowry will never become a 2C. Future RHD (LHD will be ok IMO with Josh, Niku & Samberg), Buff has two years left, Myers isn’t good and should be traded at TDL or let walk this summer and Trouba very possibly gets traded this summer. We don’t have any top 4 RHD prospects in our system at the moment. We need to start succession planning with our RHD quickly.

 

[Howard Chuck]

How do Jets rank in 5v5 scoring by team?

Little is playing much better this year than last - but it isn't showing on the scoreboard. I keep waiting for it to come.

Looking at the whole team - they are just not getting enough shots on net. Period. It isn't just centres. Its the whole team.

As a team, we are passing up MANY very good opportunities to shoot. It's amazing how many times we pass into a corner and lose possession instead of shooting, for example. We went most of the third period against Buffalo without a shot on goal! But there were many good opportunities. I would love to see us shoot more instead of waiting for the perfect play.

 

[Howard Chuck]

I know with all the Eastern centres (Tavares, Matthews, Kadri), (Kuznetsov-Backstrom), (Stamkos-Point), (Crosby-Malkin), etc we don't look that talented.

But let's look at the West, 1-3

Nashville (Johanson, Turris, Bonino)

Winnipeg (Scheifele, Little, Lowry)

Minnesota (Staal, Koivu, Eriksson-Ek)

San Jose (Thornton, Couture, M. Karlsson)

Colorado (Mackinnon, Kerfoot, Soderberg)

Dallas (Benn, Spezza, Faksa)

Calgary (Monahan, Backlund, Ryan)

Vancouver (Horvat, Pettersson, Br. Sutter)

Chicago (Toews, Schmaltz, Kruger)

Arizona (Stepan, Galchenyuk, Strome?)

Edmonton (Mc David, Draisaitl/Spooner/Nuge/?)

St. Louis (O'Reilly, Schenn, Bozak)

Anaheim (Getzlaf, Kesler, Henrique?)

Vegas (W. Karlsson, Stastny, Eakin)

Kings (Kopitar, Carter, Iafallo?)

Of those teams, who has a clear advantage?

Maybe Vegas? Maybe Nashville.

We have a top centre, for scoring, in Scheifele, and a top centre for defense in Lowry. Guys like Backlund, Couture are better than Little, but their teams as a whole have more holes.
When I look at secondary production Laine I believe has 3 ES points, one was an EN goal. Little has 6, one was an goal 6-5, no goalie.

So the problem's not only on Little. And our centres.

Right now we have 4 solid lines, competing each night. We have 4 reliable defensemen. I think upgrades to that bottom 3 pairing gets more points on the board for our 2nd line, as they generally play together, that means Laine, and Little. Being a good defensive team takes a lot of work, which we are putting in. I think the talent offensively will eventually make the difference, scoring. There is a synchronism lacking between certain players. Once we get in sync, I expect us to get to middle of the pack numbers 5 on 5. The more effective minutes 5 on 5 we get out of our 4th line, the more I think the top line gets going, and then it reverberates. As I said before Roslovic's progression/development has a major impact on the direction we go. I think Scheif/Roslovic/Lowry at centre puts us in the elite skating range, but I understand why Little is playing where he is. Defense first.

I would love to see what Roslovic looks like between Connor and Laine. Roslovic and Connor look incredible together and add in Laine, you never know.

But I don't know how you try that out unless we have a huge lead and are willing to chance it. That's a pretty big responsibility for Roslovic to move into. Hopefully sometime this year though.

 

[voyageur]

Poolman is going to play Myers minutes next year, and if he doesn't Niku will so I am not that concerned. Nogier moves up the depth chart a tad too. With experience. We have the options of Kulikov and Niku at LD, or bringing Benny back, with Stanley in a spot to compete, and the possibility of bringing Samberg into our system as as well. So Trouba's value stocks the shelves where need be. I'm not too concerned about the future.

I agree that Little will exceed his shelf limit as a 2C. Maybe this year. I still see his value as a shutdown winger, with Lowry and Tanev. That line won us key games in the Nashville series, and that was with Lowry battling with injury. Two centres on a defensive line makes sense, especially if they are in the 55% range on the draw. Roslovic is an unknown. But the more he gets his feet wet the more I think he progresses into that top 6 role. Connor-Roslovic are going to be a dynamic duo in the NHL, one of our best draft years, out of many. I am looking to the future before I look at a guy like Jeff Carter, a rental with a cost. I think we still have a farm system that gives us depth in the battlefield too. Considering how good we are not firing on all cylinders I am optimistic about the team's ability to fly this year. LD is the number one hole still. Tampa changed their team with the McDonaugh trade, sacrificing centres and draft picks to get the 1-2 defensive punch. We have that to some extent with Morrissey/Buff but defense is Nashville's strength and I think where we need the most improvement to get to the top.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

As a team, we are passing up MANY very good opportunities to shoot. It's amazing how many times we pass into a corner and lose possession instead of shooting, for example. We went most of the third period against Buffalo without a shot on goal! But there were many good opportunities. I would love to see us shoot more instead of waiting for the perfect play.

There is a happy medium between shooting at every opportunity and always looking for the perfect chance. I think Jets were finding that last year. This year, not so much, at least so far. 1 breakout game might get them past it. Who knows? But I hope it comes soon. We aren't even hitting many posts this year.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

If people consider this a big issue, what do people think of our LHD issue?

I think we need more scoring from our LHD. 13 pts from our 3 LHD.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

29th in the league, only LA and Arizona have scored less 5on5.

This is the issue we need to be looking at. And it can't all be on the C's.

 

[Skidooboy]

seems like you all are just looking for a reason to bitch.

10th best in the league, with at least 2 games in hand over every team above us. 4th best goal differential, solid pk numbers amazing PP numbers, a winning record.......... some of the best and brightest young players... why are we soooooo fixated on 5 on 5 scoring? hows our 5 on 5 defense? Scotty bowman always talked about PP and PK being the thing that wins cups. shouldn't we be happy about those numbers?

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

seems like you all are just looking for a reason to *****.

10th best in the league, with at least 2 games in hand over every team above us. 4th best goal differential, solid pk numbers amazing PP numbers, a winning record.......... some of the best and brightest young players... why are we soooooo fixated on 5 on 5 scoring? hows our 5 on 5 defense? Scotty bowman always talked about PP and PK being the thing that wins cups. shouldn't we be happy about those numbers?

Yeah, and some sainted coach was the first to say that defense wins championships too. He was wrong. Winning comes from the difference between the play of one team and the other. Offense, defense, PP, PK, it doesn't matter.

Yes the Jets are doing fairly well so far in the standings. That doesn't mean we shouldn't notice the flaws in their game.

 

[PhilJets]

Jets C had 4 points tonight and the other night

 

[Ippenator]

Do you think our star goal scorer 29 will score 15 goals if it werent for the powerplay this year?

Not with the offensively bad second and third line centers that the Jets have. In fact he most probably would do it even playing with an offensive scrub center like Little, as he has done it already while playing most of the season with him. And especially now that an offensively smart player like Connor is playing in the line instead of Ehlers.

BTW, how much has Pastrnak been scoring lately when Bergeron got injured? I see three games with 0+0 and he has at least Krejci as his center, whom is clearly better offensively than Little...

 

[Ippenator]

I know with all the Eastern centres (Tavares, Matthews, Kadri), (Kuznetsov-Backstrom), (Stamkos-Point), (Crosby-Malkin), etc we don't look that talented.

But let's look at the West, 1-3

Nashville (Johanson, Turris, Bonino)

Winnipeg (Scheifele, Little, Lowry)

Minnesota (Staal, Koivu, Eriksson-Ek)

San Jose (Thornton, Couture, M. Karlsson)

Colorado (Mackinnon, Kerfoot, Soderberg)

Dallas (Benn, Spezza, Faksa)

Calgary (Monahan, Backlund, Ryan)

Vancouver (Horvat, Pettersson, Br. Sutter)

Chicago (Toews, Schmaltz, Kruger)

Arizona (Stepan, Galchenyuk, Strome?)

Edmonton (Mc David, Draisaitl/Spooner/Nuge/?)

St. Louis (O'Reilly, Schenn, Bozak)

Anaheim (Getzlaf, Kesler, Henrique?)

Vegas (W. Karlsson, Stastny, Eakin)

Kings (Kopitar, Carter, Iafallo?)

Of those teams, who has a clear advantage?

Maybe Vegas? Maybe Nashville.

We have a top centre, for scoring, in Scheifele, and a top centre for defense in Lowry. Guys like Backlund, Couture are better than Little, but their teams as a whole have more holes.
When I look at secondary production Laine I believe has 3 ES points, one was an EN goal. Little has 6, one was an goal 6-5, no goalie.

So the problem's not only on Little. And our centres.

Right now we have 4 solid lines, competing each night. We have 4 reliable defensemen. I think upgrades to that bottom 3 pairing gets more points on the board for our 2nd line, as they generally play together, that means Laine, and Little. Being a good defensive team takes a lot of work, which we are putting in. I think the talent offensively will eventually make the difference, scoring. There is a synchronism lacking between certain players. Once we get in sync, I expect us to get to middle of the pack numbers 5 on 5. The more effective minutes 5 on 5 we get out of our 4th line, the more I think the top line gets going, and then it reverberates. As I said before Roslovic's progression/development has a major impact on the direction we go. I think Scheif/Roslovic/Lowry at centre puts us in the elite skating range, but I understand why Little is playing where he is. Defense first.

I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw you seriously post that maybe only two teams from the list have better centers than the Jets. I honestly can’t find any from the list that have worse offensive centers as a whole. Sure Scheifele is great offensively, but after that there is absolutely nothing. If the team has as great defensive shutdown center as Lowry is, they definitely need to have two very good offensive centers too. Otherwise they are way too easy to get shutdown themselves, and that is what is exactly happening to the Jets on 5 on 5 hockey.

Some teams on your list have seriously insanely better 2nd line centers than the Jets have. Especially Pettersson, Koivu and Couture are miles ahead of Little offensively, and I wouldn’t speak about Lowry in the same sentence with them when talking about offence. Most of the other 2nd line center on the list are also clearly better than Little offensively and not at least much worse defenively, if at all worse.

I have said it before and will once again repeat it a the Jets center need one almost Scheifele class 2nd line center to be a serious Stanley Cup contender. If they would have that, the. Little would be a pretty good 3rd line center and Lowry would be an excellent 4th line/shutdown center.

Unless this is fixed, the Jets are going to be a team that is completely relying on their special teams and goaltending. Much, much more than a real Stanley Cup contender can be.

 

[GNP]

I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw you seriously post that maybe only two teams from the list have better centers than the Jets. I honestly can’t find any from the list that have worse offensive centers as a whole. Sure Scheifele is great offensively, but after that there is absolutely nothing. If the team has as great defensive shutdown center as Lowry is, they definitely need to have two very good offensive centers too. Otherwise they are way too easy to get shutdown themselves, and that is what is exactly happening to the Jets on 5 on 5 hockey.

Some teams on your list have seriously insanely better 2nd line centers than the Jets have. Especially Pettersson, Koivu and Couture are miles ahead of Little offensively, and I wouldn’t speak about Lowry in the same sentence with them when talking about offence. Most of the other 2nd line center on the list are also clearly better than Little offensively and not at least much worse defenively, if at all worse.

I have said it before and will once again repeat it a the Jets center need one almost Scheifele class 2nd line center to be a serious Stanley Cup contender. If they would have that, the. Little would be a pretty good 3rd line center and Lowry would be an excellent 4th line/shutdown center.

Unless this is fixed, the Jets are going to be a team that is completely relying on their special teams and goaltending. Much, much more than a real Stanley Cup contender can be.

______________________________________________________

Great post Ipp, and I totally agree with you. How do we get that 2nd line center ? is the question. Ideally it would be to trade Trouba, because he wants to leave here. I wouldn't really want to trade either Laine, Ehlers or Connor for one --so where do you propose we get one ??- thru the draft, or do we hope Roslovic can fill this job ??

I don't think we'll be a Stanley Cup contender, until this situation is fixed--just like you.

 

[Whileee]

2018-19, 5v5 points/60, Centers...

Lindholm 1.75
Scheifele 1.71
Koivu 1.70
Turris 1.69
Little 1.67
Horvat 1.65
Zibanejad 1.60
Johnson 1.55
Marchessault 1.38

Is Little's offense really that much of a problem right now if he's carrying a heavy defensive load?

 

[voyageur]

I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw you seriously post that maybe only two teams from the list have better centers than the Jets. I honestly can’t find any from the list that have worse offensive centers as a whole. Sure Scheifele is great offensively, but after that there is absolutely nothing. If the team has as great defensive shutdown center as Lowry is, they definitely need to have two very good offensive centers too. Otherwise they are way too easy to get shutdown themselves, and that is what is exactly happening to the Jets on 5 on 5 hockey.

Some teams on your list have seriously insanely better 2nd line centers than the Jets have. Especially Pettersson, Koivu and Couture are miles ahead of Little offensively, and I wouldn’t speak about Lowry in the same sentence with them when talking about offence. Most of the other 2nd line center on the list are also clearly better than Little offensively and not at least much worse defenively, if at all worse.

I have said it before and will once again repeat it a the Jets center need one almost Scheifele class 2nd line center to be a serious Stanley Cup contender. If they would have that, the. Little would be a pretty good 3rd line center and Lowry would be an excellent 4th line/shutdown center.

Unless this is fixed, the Jets are going to be a team that is completely relying on their special teams and goaltending. Much, much more than a real Stanley Cup contender can be.

Yes, yes Pettersson. He'll be great I know. Vancouver's actually got great centres, when healthy. Yet they can't defend or stop the puck it seems. Koivu. I'll take Adam Lowry over Koivu any day. Match em up head to head. Little is on pace for another 40 point season. He's finally got a possession driver on his wing, instead of passengers, trying to win 1 on 1, 1 on 2/3 open ice battles, but not board battles. Logan Couture is good but we are not worse than San Jose at centre. Because we don't give opposing centres a lot of chances. Except Scheifele ironically.

People still can't see the connection between defense and offense. It's how you move the puck that generates offense. You'll rarely have a shift where a defenseman isn't controlling the puck. Our defense isn't generating offense, other than big 3 and Benny, once in a while. It's the perfect storm for Niku, except he can't defend.

With Roslovic we have 4 good centres, all can play, all can produce, on different night. All can defend. Very few teams can say that. Toronto might have some kind of juggernaut at centre, but their defense is suspect. If you make them defend, like we did to Nashville. You'll find the same weakness in Pittsburgh. That's how Montreal beat them twice.

I'm not worried about centre at all, especially with Roslovic growing into a #2 as the season progresses. I'd like to see him skating against Brayden Point in the Stanley Cup finals. But I start with defense. You put Little's line with Buff, their production goes up. The same effect on Laine/Ehlers. Take him away, not as dangerous. I think if we use some combination of Chiarot-Niku, or Kulikov-Poolman as a 3rd pairing we'll see an increase in production, across the board. Just need the top 4 d-man. And Scheifele/Wheeler to be a little less selfish with ice time.

My Paul Stastny acquisition is Michael Ferland, a winger who gets to the net.

 

[Ducky10]

2018-19, 5v5 points/60, Centers...

Lindholm 1.75
Scheifele 1.71
Koivu 1.70
Turris 1.69
Little 1.67
Horvat 1.65
Zibanejad 1.60
Johnson 1.55
Marchessault 1.38

Is Little's offense really that much of a problem right now if he's carrying a heavy defensive load?

Not as much as some make it out to be.

 

[Ducky10]

People still can't see the connection between defense and offense. It's how you move the puck that generates offense. You'll rarely have a shift where a defenseman isn't controlling the puck. Our defense isn't generating offense, other than big 3 and Benny, once in a while. It's the perfect storm for Niku, except he can't defend.

.